


A Farewell Present

by TheBestGamer



Series: Johanna and Kaisa [2]
Category: Hilda (Cartoon)
Genre: Angst, Blood Magic, Childhood Friends, Dragons, F/F, Friends to Lovers, Gen, Girls Kissing, Lesbian Witch, Magic, Past Relationship(s), Plants, Realization, Sketchbook ship, Speaking in Dragon Tongue, Surprise Ending, The Librarian's Name is Maven, The Lindworm Gets a Name, The first Hilda story featuring the Lindworm, Witchcraft, Witches, Yuri
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-06
Updated: 2020-07-14
Packaged: 2021-03-04 17:41:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,661
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25100320
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheBestGamer/pseuds/TheBestGamer
Summary: It wasn't fair, Johanna's parents are leaving Trollberg to live in the forest and are taking her with them, worst part is there is nothing either Johanna or her best friend/girlfriend Maven can do to stop them. Maven fears that the reason they are leaving is because they either know that she's a witch or that she and their daughter Johanna were in a relationship, probably both, it doesn't matter though, the only thing that matters is Johanna is leaving. If she can't convince her parents to let her stay then she will make a gift for Johanna to remember her by.The only problem with that is that she needs some very specific ingredients including the ash of something burned from dragon fire and it just so happens that there is a dragon just outside of Trollberg.
Relationships: Johanna | Hilda's Mum/The Librarian (Hilda), The Librarian & The Lindworm (Hilda)
Series: Johanna and Kaisa [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1449229
Comments: 10
Kudos: 30





	1. The Witch and the Dragon

**Author's Note:**

> The name for the Librarian was thought up by fellow Hilda fanfic writer Small_Heart. Take a look at their stories you'll love them.

There it was in her sights, a small island a little far ways from her home of Trollberg. It was this very island that the witch and scholar known as Maven needed to get to in order to complete a gift that she intends to make for the most important person in her life, the only person besides her parents who knows that she is witch, an artist named Johanna.

Before she met Johanna, Maven was well known to be the most anti-social kid in school, never once leaving the comfort of her books and only rarely ever seen outside. She wasn't bullied because of this in fact most people that have seen her are more afraid and/or intimidated by her and those that have tried to bully her were later seen running away afraid to even see her. Truthfully Maven had preferred it this way, because at least no one would disturb her reading or think of her as a freak of nature. Though that all changed when one day a girl named Johanna decided to talk to her.

Maven wasn't going to push Johanna away but at the same time she wasn't going to acknowledge her presence either and although many of the kids tried to warn Johanna to stay away from her she didn't pay them any mind and tried to make friends with her. It wasn't until she was forced into a school project with Johanna that Maven finally decided to at the very least speak to her, though she did more listening than talking. While studying together Johanna told Maven that she was an artist and showed Maven her sketchpad and although Maven hadn't asked to see any of her drawings she decided to take a look anyway believing them to be something as simple like stick figures or something like that. However, once Maven saw the drawings she was in awe for Johanna drew everything perfectly from plants to animals, she even drew some of the students and teachers at their school perfectly.

Then she saw a drawing of herself and noticed that unlike the other people Johanna drew the drawing of herself had way more attention to detail. She even got the color of Maven's hair perfectly. Johanna told Maven that this was her most favorite drawing of all and that honestly made Maven have butterflies in her stomach and her face turn slightly pink at those words. The days after that Maven and Johanna made a note to hangout every chance they could and make sure that any group project the school gave them that they would always partner up. It was truly the start of a wonderful friendship.

It wasn't until they both started high school that Maven accidentally did something she was never supposed to do. They hung out at the cemetery because it was close to where Maven lived and she wanted to give something to Johanna. She knew that Johanna was hoping to have a perfect landscape for her next picture and being the friend that she was thought to help her out. Hoping that Johanna didn't see it she raised her finger in the air and made a magic circle witch then dissipated and the magic dust that flew in the air spread throughout the tombstones and many wondrous plants started growing around them. Mistakenly though too many grew and Johanna took notice of and knew then and there what had happened.

Maven was in a state of shock, all she wanted was to help out her friend and instead she exposed her biggest secret of and possibly damaged what friendship they had. Maven kept on trying to make any number of excuses until finally after realizing that Johanna wasn't buying any of it Maven finally revealed to her that she was a witch. She never wanted to hurt her friend and she never wanted Johanna to see her as freak like the rest of the city does, so she inwardly prepared for the worst, only for it to never come. All Johanna did was smile at the fact that her friend was magical and grew all these plants just for her. It was then that Maven knew that Johanna didn't care that she was a witch and still wanted to be with her, but it was then that Maven did something also unexpected.

She kissed Johanna.

Realizing what she did she pulled away, her face a big shade of red, and started constantly apologizing. But then Johanna placed her hand on Maven's cheek causing her to go silent. They both looked into each others eyes while blushing and soon both of them leaned into another kiss, both of them melting into it. None of them knew when they started having these feelings for the other, were less sure if they just started to have these feelings now, though it didn't matter because at this point their friendship had shifted into romance.

For a while they kept their relationship a secret from their parents, neither of them asked if it was okay for them to be attracted to the same gender as they are and frankly neither one of them wanted to know what their parents thought they important thing is they had each other. Johanna never told anyone that her newest girlfriend was a witch out of fear of what might happen to her and out of Maven's respect for she believes that there might not be a specific time for people to find out that she is witch. However, just as soon as they are thinking about telling their parents about their relationship tragedy struck.

A little after Johanna became seventeen and Maven became sixteen Johanna's parents had the thought to move back into their old cabin in the forest far outside of Trollberg, the decision was final and they never gave a reason why other than to leave civilization. The day after that Johanna and Maven were at their usual hangout at the cemetery and they were both crying their eyes out. Neither one of them wanted to separated from the other and they both thought that they couldn't just run away out of fear that doing so might make things even worse for them then it already is. In the end they were both forced to accept it, Johanna was moving away from Trollberg and there was nothing either of them can do to stop them. Maven however, thought that if she couldn't be with Johanna then maybe she will make her something to remember her by after she leaves.

For a while now Johanna had asked Maven if she could help her with any of her magic, such as potion making or performing rituals and every time she asked Maven always said the same thing. "If you weren't born with magic then you can't use magic. Simple as that." Once time she heard Johanna ask her about this thing called a "Magic Constructs" where you create a sort of creature out of magic and whatever the creature was all the depends on the type of material they used along with some of the necessary ingredients to make the ritual work.

That there is why Maven had begun to head towards the small island outside the city for as it turns out that one of the main components for a magic construct would be the ask of something burned from a dragons flame. Now normally this task would've been impossible for dragons haven't been seen anywhere in thousands of years however, thanks to Maven's book knowledge and with help from some elves that she found and later broke free from by the wall of her home she had figured out that there is a dragon on that small island. The elves she got the knowledge from were surprised that she was able to see all of them even though didn't sign any of them paper work but that's beside the point.

Now, after riding the water spirit of the lake, she hoped of and finally made it to the island. Maven turned around and bowed slightly at the water spirit saying, "Thanks for getting me here." The water spirit then disappeared into the water and Maven checked her bag of supplies for the seashell to make sure it was still there so she can get a ride back.

As she set of to explore the island she couldn't help but notice that there was a lack of plant life on this island and any plants that were there are slowly wilting. She was more surprised at the fact that there plants here to begin with and that the dragon, if there was one here, hadn't burned them all up. As she thought that she also began to think to herself why a dragon would still be on this island, couldn't they just fly away somewhere more isolated than this. Thinking about all of this she they quickly stopped moving before she accidentally walked into a rock. However, upon closer inspection it wasn't a rock in front of her at all, as Maven took a few steps back and finally noticed that the thing in front of her was in fact the dragon she was looking for.

"There really is a dragon here," Maven said but quickly covered her mouth after seeing the dragon move slightly. She stood there frozen thinking that the dragon is going to turn around and attack her but then she something that made her sigh with relief. The dragon was sleeping. Making sure not to make another sound she tip toed to action.

Making her to the dragons head, after a long while of sneaking due to the dragon being very big, she also noticed that this dragon didn't have any wings so even if it wanted it couldn't leave the island at all. Maven then took notice of all the dragons other features and finally figured out that this wasn't just a regular dragon, it was in fact a Lindworm, one of the most legendary dragons and/or serpent monsters in recorded history dated back in both British and Norwegian Heraldry. Though she wanted to know why it was that a Lindworm was here of all places in the first place right now she was more focused at the task at hand.

Finally reaching the Lindworm's head Maven quietly reached into her back and pulled something out. The ritual for a magic construct didn't specifically say what it was that needed to be burned so she grabbed the nearest thing she could find and what she grabbed was a feather. The Feather she had was in fact one of the feathers left behind by her faithful companion back home, a catowl she name Freya. Maven loved her catowl a lot but she had noticed that Freya had started molting and all of her feathers were falling off which she then thought would be a good use for the ritual, it's a good thing even hybrid animal feathers grow back just like regular birds.

Taking a deep breathe and exhaling she placed the feather near the Lindworm's nose to get the flame but not too close to accidentally make the Lindworm sneeze and wake up. A short burst of flame appeared but it wasn't enough to burn the feather so Maven decided to take another step closer only to accidentally trip and shove the feather into the Lindworm's nose. Fear coursing through her Maven began walking backwards a just a she feared, with the force of the feather entering it's nose the Lindworm sneezed up in the air releasing a giant blue flame. It was too high up in the air for Maven to burn the feather but that didn't matter right now because the Lindworm has woken up.

Looking around to see what caused her to sneeze she looked down and Maven. "Why are you here and interrupting by sleep?" the Lindworm asked very angrily. Maven tried to answer but was too stunned to say anything. "Let me guess," the Lindworm moved her head closer to Maven. "You want to get out of an elf contract, don't you?"

That shook Maven out of it and she replied, "Contract? What are you talking about?"

"Don't think I don't see what you're doing." the Lindworm saying not believing what Maven said. "You want my fire, yes? Well that's too bad, you're not getting any of my flames."

"You don't understand." Maven said trying to reason with the Lindworm. She however, didn't look where she was stepping and accidentally stepped on one of the few plants on this island.

Doing that made the Lindworm furious. "So few plants left on this island and you have the nerve to crush one of them." Maven looked down and saw she was stepping on one of the plants and quickly took her foot off of it. "Maybe if I eat you then that should tell people to never come back here." The Lindworm then roared at Maven.

Thinking that there was nothing she could do to convince the Lindworm no to eat her she quickly turned and ran away with the Lindworm chasing after her. She however, didn't get far as there were a lot of works preventing her from escaping so she turned back and saw the Lindworm closing in on her. She thought to herself that it was pretty ironic. She couldn't even convince her girlfriends parents to let her stay in Trollberg and now she couldn't convince the Lindworm to not eat her. The thought of that made her mad, so very mad, wanting to release her anger she drew a big magic circle in the air and just as the Lindworm caught up to her the magic circle dissipated and out of nowhere a part of the earth below the Lindworm's head lifted up from the ground and hit her from right underneath.

Stumbling backwards from the ground hitting her like that she looked back at Maven and realization dawned on her. "You're a witch?" Maven didn't say anything but kept her guard up waiting for the Lindworm to attack her again. "So you really don't know anything about elf contracts." Maven then looked at her in confusion at what she said. "But that doesn't matter. You crushed one of my plants." Maven still looked confused. "There aren't that many left and it's not like I can grow more, since my fire will just burn more of them."

Realizing why the Lindworm was mad at her Maven thought of something that could help her out. "Look I'm really sorry about your plants but I can plant more for you."

The Lindworm blinked in confusion. "You have more plants?"

Maven reached into her bag and bulled some of what looked like plants out. "I needed them for this ritual I going to preform and I kinda grabbed more than I needed." She placed them on the ground.

The Lindworm looked at the plants one by one. "Marigolds? Birds of Paradise? Lavenders? Yarrows?" She looked at all of them and was then in awe at the marvelous plants. "I haven't seen plants like these for a long time. I honestly can't remember last time I saw these." The Lindworm chuckled at a thought. "Back then I used to call Birds of Paradise "Lokraan do Prudaas."

Maven smiled at that. "I'm also guessing you used to call Lavenders "Vaslahl" as well?"

The Lindworm blinked surprisingly at what Maven said. "Indeed. You speak Dragon Tongue?"

"Well I do make a note to know lots of things." Maven said rubbing the back of her neck. "Never know when you'll need to know these things."

The Lindworm shook her head amusingly at that. "You're willing to part with these plants?" Maven nodded at that. "What kind of spell would you need for these as well as my fire?"

Maven thought there was no point in keeping it a secret. "There's this person I care about back home. She's a dear friend of mine and she's about to leave me." The Lindworm nodded listening. "We both tried to get her to stay but it just won't happen, so I'm going to make her a present, a magic construct, to remember me by."

"A type of magic like that would need something as powerful as ash from a dragons flame." The Lindworm thought of it for a moment and said. "Very well. If you plant these then I will give you what you want. All will be forgiven as well."

"Really? Thank you." Maven said overjoyed that she'll get what she came for after all and she can leave this island without being hurt in the process. So after picking out places for the plants to go and planting them while also providing them water she was finally ready to get the ash.

"A deal's a deal. Place what you want burned on the ground." Maven grabbed the feather from before and placed it on the ground. The Lindworm looked at the feather and said, "I think you might need more than just this one feather." Maven thought as much which was a good thing her catowl was dropping feathers everywhere back home and she grabbed more and placed them on the ground. "That should do it." Leaning towards the feathers she blew her flames at them turning them into ash.

The smell from the burning feathers reached Maven's nose and she tried to blow away the smell. "Thank you." She said while coughing. She gathered up the ash and placed it into her bag. She turned to leaved but before she did she turned back to the Lindworm. "One last thing." The Lindworm looked at her as she cast yet another magic circle in the air, this one bigger than the one before.

The Magic Circle dissipated and the Lindworm stood there seeing if something was going to happen. "Well what did you do?" Maven walked towards one of the plants she placed on the ground and stomped on it. The Lindworm's eyes grew and she started to get angry again but then Maven took her foot off and The Lindworm watched as the plant that was crushed grew back to full health.

Seeing the Lindworm's confusion Maven answered her question from before. "I just cast an Evergreen Spell. You can crush them, burn them, or give them too much water, but as long as the plants are still in the ground, as long as no one picks them, they'll grow back to full health as well any more plants that grow."

The Lindworm was in awe at that. "I...I don't know what to say." She smiled genuinely. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." Maven extended her arm. "My name is Maven by the way. Maven Underhill." The Lindworm shook her hand with one of her claws. "What's your name?"

The Lindworm thought about it for a minute but came up blank. "It's a little embarrassing but it's been so long I actually forgot my name."

Maven did want to laugh at that but decided not to. "If you want I can give you one." The Lindworm shrugged at that meaning she was fine with it. Maven thought of it for a moment while also looking at all the plants and finally thought of something. "How about Ahvus? It means Plants in dragon tongue."

She smirked at that. "I know what it means." She then thought of that name and decided why not. "Sure, call me Ahvus."

Maven nodded and then said, "Thanks for helping me with this Ahvus."

"Thank you for the gift of flora Maven." With that said Maven turned around and headed back to the water spirit to take her home. Ahvus looked back at her new plants that are almost immortal like her thinking to herself that Maven might be the one human she doesn't mind visiting every now and then.


	2. The Magic Construct

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maven begins working on the gift alongside her girlfriend who is leaving soon.

Having retrieved the ash from the Lindworm that she later befriended and named Ahvus, Maven had all the ingredients she needed for the gift she is making for her girlfriend, Johanna. Truth be told though she would rather continue working on finding a way to make sure Johanna stays in Trollberg with her but she also knew that it was too be a wasted effort. So now with all the ingredients in hand Maven was ready to begin.

She and Johanna moved into another location to start the ritual. They weren't going to their usual hangout at the cemetery for Maven was afraid that anyone people mourning the death of their loved ones would pass by and see what they were up too, that and also for a ritual like this Maven always had a special place to perform it. The place Maven and Johanna were headed to was deep in the forest where no one but innocent creatures would see them, though hopefully no trolls would see them either. Maven did think that it was weird that the place they were going to preform the ritual was the same place that Johanna was being taken too, although not the exact location, just much further away for anyone to get too. Why her parents decided to move to some place in the forest far away was beyond her reasoning.

It took about an hour to find the location but the two girls finally made it. The place they have entered was a large clearing in the forest with the ground looking worn down like lots of people have been here before, or that a few people have been here many times. It was also surrounded by strange rocks that looked like they had symbols on them but sadly Johanna wasn't able to translate them, and Maven showed her many symbols and their translations on some of their past dates. The rocks surrounding the area formed a giant circle in the ground.

Johanna pointed out some of the rocks and asked Maven, "Do you know what those symbols mean? I don't think I can translate."

Maven looked at the symbols, looked back at Johanna and answered, "To be honest I actually don't know myself." Johanna found that hard to believe since Maven was basically an expert at all things magic. "These rocks are ancient runes left by my grandmother. It was to keep any spirits, marra, and anything else mystical out while she performed her rituals." Maven then chuckled a little and continued. "She however, forgot to place any runes to keep trolls away. By the time she realized that she already used up the last of the runes." Maven placed her bag of materials in the center of circle. "With that said I'm going to take a look around and make sure there are no trolls in sight, I'll be back in a few minutes. You don't mind waiting right?"

Johanna shook her head at that. "I would rather be safe than end up as troll food. Go ahead." Nodding her head at what Johanna said Maven turned around and began to search the area.

After she left to go search for trolls Johanna sat down on the ground with one of the runes behind her. While she was alone there her mind began to drift away as she thought about the events that are soon to take place. Moving away from Trollberg was by far the worst thing that has ever happened to her. She loved Trollberg, the sights, the people, the festival they have every year in honor of The Great Raven, she enjoyed her time being a part of the Sparrow Scouts back when she was younger. But the worst part about all of this was that she would be away from Maven, her best friend that she later discovered her to be the love of her life. Johanna was convinced that Maven was the one, the person she wanted to spend her life with, to her it didn't matter if she was a witch the only thing that mattered to her was that Maven was good person. But now all of that has changed all because she has to move with her parents, the very idea made her angry and sad at the same time.

Deep in thought about this Johanna failed to noticed Maven return until she tapped Johanna on the shoulder. Johanna looked up at her and Maven said, "The coast in clear, not a troll in sight." Johanna nodded at that and Maven moved over to her bag of materials to get started.

Reaching into her bag she pulled out the key ingredient for this to work, the bag of ashes. Johanna pointed that out and asked, "What is that supposed to be?" She sniffed the air and added, "And why does it smell bad?"

Maven waved her hand in the air to try and get rid of the smell. "Sorry, my pet catowl Freya was molting and I thought that the feathers would be a good thing to burn. The ritual required the ash of something burned from a dragon's flame and it wasn't really specific on what it was suppose to be so I just grabbed the nearest thing I could find." Maven placed the bag of ash away and looked back at Johanna who seemed to have a look of disbelief. "What?"

"You needed something burned from the flames of a dragon?" Maven nodded. "A Dragon?"

Maven thought of what she was saying a little and smirked. "Johanna! Trollberg used to be invaded by trolls, there are animal hybrids living in the forest and one in my house, I happen to be a witch, and yet dragon's are the one thing you find hard to believe?"

Johanna shrugged at that. "I've just never seen one before."

"Be grateful for that! I can confirm that they are dangerous creatures. I'm just glad that I was able to calm Ahvus down with the promise of plants and a spell so all plants on the island she was on will never die, as long as they stay in the ground that is."

Johanna just looked confused at that. "Plants? Ahvus?"

"Ahvus was the name I gave to her, it means 'Plants' in Dragon Tongue. Also yes the thing she is most fond of in the world is plants."

Johanna looked down at the ground. "I can't believe you went up against a dragon just to make me a gift."

Maven placed her hand on Johanna's cheek and said, "For you, I would've even gone up against the gods themselves." Johanna's eyes were filled with both love and awe at those words.

Maven took some time to set up the ritual but after a few minutes they were both ready. Placing her many plants in the center of the circle Maven grabbed something that looked like a couple of black rocks. She had about seven of them and placed them all in a circle surrounding the plants. Next she grabbed small and brittle stone and a small knife. Using the knife to prick her finger she drew a symbol on the rock using her blood and started saying something in witch's language making the symbol glow. After the glowing stopped Maven crushed the rock which was of course very brittle and spread the rock dust all over the plants and black rocks.

Johanna just sat there and continued to watch Maven perform the ritual. She was always amazed at what Maven had been doing and for a second Johanna could've sworn that Maven was glowing. She was in awe at this that she accidentally missed most of the ritual, not that it would do her any good since she herself can't use magic. She tried but it just wouldn't work, even though Maven tried to tell her.

Maven was almost done and now she just needed to spread the ashes all over. She grabbed the bag containing the ashes and opened it up causing a bright blue glow. Johanna was amazed at what she was looking at and simply said, "It'e beautiful."

Maven looked up at Johanna and saw the blue glow had caused her to see Johanna in more of her beauty. Noticing Maven had stopped Johanna also looked up and saw the blue glow also captivating Maven's beauty. Seeing the two in this blue glow making both of them wish that they could just keep looking at the other forever. The thought however, forced Maven to remember that in such short time this beauty that she fell in love with will be leaving her which caused Maven to start crying. Soon after, thinking what Maven was thinking, Johanna also started crying. Putting the ashes down both Johanna and Maven embraced each other, their tears not letting up.

Maven was the first to speak, refusing to let go of Johanna. "I don't want you to leave."

Johanna took a deep breathe and replied, also not letting go. "And I don't want to be away from you."

Both Johanna and Maven kept holding on to each other hoping that if they just kept holding on then maybe they would never be away from one another. But sadly they knew that wasn't going to happen. Looking back at each other's faces, tears still falling from their eyes, the two leaned in for a kiss. The kiss only wanted them to not let each other go even more, but they had to separate, cursing the fact they had to breathe.

Johanna placed her hand on Maven's face while Maven placed her hand on Johanna's hand. Looking at each other Johanna said, "I'll always love you Maven."

"Same for you Johanna." They then placed their heads respectfully against the other trying to let their tears run dry. After a minute they both separated. "Let's- let's get back to it." Maven said wiping her eyes any remaining tears she had. She grabbed the ashes and spread them across everything, lighting the plants, dust, and all essentials on fire with a blue flame and caused the black rocks to glow violet. "It's ready. Just one more thing, the raw material that the magic construct will be made from." Maven looked up at Johanna and asked, "What would you like it to be?" Johanna thought of it for a little bit but then had an idea. She gestured Maven to lean forward and Johanna whispered something into her ear. Pulling away Maven looked surprised. "Johanna you can't be serious."

"I am."

"But it's impossible. Many have tried to do it and none of them were successful."

Johanna gave Maven a stern look and said, "You're nothing like the old ones, I believe that you can do it." She then gave her a soft look. "Besides if what you're saying means anything then someone must have successfully done it before."

Maven wanted to argue but she learned a long time ago to never try to argue with Johanna, it's always a losing battle. She grabbed her knife and snipped some of her hair. She was going to give the knife to Johanna but she saw that she had her own. Maven decided not to say anything believing that Johanna would say something like, " _A Sparrow Scout must always come prepared._ " Johanna then snipped her own hair and now was for the not so pleasant part, both Johanna and Maven placed their knifes on their palms and cut them. They didn't cut to deep to cause and long lasting damage, just enough for blood to spill. Wincing at the pain both Johanna and Maven placed their locks of hair in their bloody palms covering them in blood.

They both looked at one another and had the same thought causing them to smile. Having their blood covered hair in their palms they placed both of their hands together interlocking their fingers while doing so. The ritual didn't require them to do that but they figured why not. Having their hands together some of their hairs got tangled up in the other while some of their blood got mixed together. They then let go and the bloody hair locks landed in the flames. Johanna pulled out some bandages for the two of them and Maven happily accepted grabbing some to patch up her palm, Johanna doing the same thing.

Now was the time.

With all the ingredients in place and the raw material they used burning in the fires Maven closed her eyes and began in the final part of the ritual. Speaking in a witch's language looking more determined then ever Johanna noticed that Maven was in fact glowing, the purple locks of hair on her head glowing much brighter than the rest of her. Soon then the fire started glowing brighter along with the stones surrounding it. After a minute of this Johanna started to get worried, thinking that Maven might cause some pain to herself but she eventually stopped. Suddenly the fire started to glow so bright that Johanna turned away and shielded her eyes. After a couple of seconds the glowing stopped and both Johanna and Maven opened their eyes to see the magic construct before them.

Only to find there was nothing there.

Neither one of them could believe, Maven spend all this time gathering up materials, facing against a dragon, and cast one of the most powerful spells in witchcraft history only to end up with nothing to show for it. Tears started falling down Maven's eyes. All she wanted was to give the love of her life something to remember her by and nothing worked. She should've known it wasn't going to work, no witch she knows that did the ritual couldn't make it work.

"No," was all that Maven could mutter. Placing both hands on the ground she kept looking at the place to find the magic construct that was supposed to be there. "No, no, no!" Tears also falling out of her eyes Johanna moved over to Maven and scooped her up into a hug. Both of them continued to embrace each other while they cry.

* * *

Alfur wiped the tears from his eyes at that. "That was really heart breaking."

"Yes it truly was." Johanna said also wiping her tears away.

A while after they reunited in the library Maven brought Johanna and her elf friend Alfur into her private study so both Maven and Johanna would tell Aflur about the story of when they met to the story when they were forced to leave each other. By the time they reached the end of their story all three of them cried.

"All that work wasted," Maven said trying to contain herself. "I couldn't have just given her a goodbye card or something like that. No! I just had to try and do something that I should've known wouldn't work."

Placing her hands on Maven's Johanna said, "Maven, remember that I was the one that wanted to try it that way. I could've easily said to try using a different type of material but I just wanted to see you try to do it." She then smiled as a thought came to her. "Besides, you went up against a dragon to try and make me a gift." Maven looked up at Johanna as she continued. "You would normally see that stuff happen in fairy tales and yet you did just that. I couldn't have asked for a more thoughtful friend." Maven smiled at that and embraced her friend.

"That was so sweet." Alfur said smiling at the two childhood friends hugging. Then a thought came to him. "I can't believe that know of the Lindworm, if Hilda knew about that then maybe things would've ended up differently, maybe." Johanna looked over at Alfur with a look of disbelief. "I'll tell you later about that." Alfur said looking slightly guilty.

Maven looked surprised at that. "Wait a minute, did you say Hilda?" Alfur nodded his head. "Did she have blue hair and a deerfox by her side?"

"Yes," Alfur answered looking happy that Maven knew about Hilda. "How did you know about her?"

"She came by here a while ago and found this place. I told her that she wasn't allowed to be down here but she didn't seem to be causing any harm so as long as she didn't take any of the books down here then I figured it was okay." Johanna and Alfur looked at each other in shock. In all honesty after hearing the story they two of them forgot that the reason they even went to the library today was because of Hilda using that spell to create those tide mice. "But wait how do you know her?"

Alfur answered her question saying, "Oh I met her back in the forest, it was because of her that we now have peace between our land and hers, though her land got crushed by a giant afterwards." Maven thought best not to ask about the giant. "She's also Johanna's daughter."

Maven looked shocked at that. Turning to Johanna she simply asked, "Hilda's your daughter." Johanna nodded and that caused Maven to look upset. "So... I guess that... means you... moved on."

Hearing that Johanna quickly stood and tried to reassure Maven. "No Maven it's not what you think." Maven looked up to her and Alfur looked at her as well wondering what she was talking about. "The thing is, Hilda's actually," Johanna rubbed the back of her neck. "Adopted."

"What?" Maven asked.

"Yeah, what?" Alfur also asked.

Johanna took a deep breathe and said, "It was a long time ago, back when I still lived in the forest. My parents recently passed away, I was all alone and I didn't know what to do." Maven nodded signalling her to keep going. "For months I was just living by myself. It was quite awful but I figured why not get a little work done. To me the only good thing about the forest back then was I able to draw all kinds of wondrous things, from landscapes to the many creatures. I once tried to find the source of some noise I heard around my cabin so I could probably sketch them as well."

"Oh that might have been us?" Alfur said. "Sorry about that and about a few other things."

"It's alright Alfur I've already forgiven you." Johanna said rubbing Alfur's head with her finger causing him to giggle a little. "Anyway for a while now it seemed like a good thing. Most artists would prefer the quite to get work done but I also missed the joy of company. That was until one day several years ago while sketching the many trees I heard something that sounded like crying. At first I thought it was the mysterious noise by the cabin again but I was much further away. So I went off to investigate and after searching for a while I finally found the source of the crying. Laying right there in the clearing... was Hilda."

"Oh my." Alfur said in bewilderment.

"She looked like she wasn't even a year old and she was all alone. I tried calling out to anyone who was out there but no matter how many times I called they either didn't hear or just plain ignored me. Realizing that she was abandoned I slowly picked her up to try not to startle her but the thing is she was afraid or anything like that. In fact the minute I picked her up she was really happy to see me, though I guess when you're alone you would be happy to see anyone. I took her in and she's been with me ever since."

Maven looked sad at that. "That's terrible."

"I know, I'm not much of a violent person but if I ever had the chance to find the people that abandoned her I would hurt them badly." Maven felt a little amused that Johanna said that but at the same time she believes that there is no doubt that Johanna would very much keep her word on that.

Maven didn't want to ask for fear of over stepping any bounds but she had to ask. "Does Hilda know? You know, about all of what you just said?"

Johanna sighed and said, "Yes, she does." Maven sighed at that, fearing that Johanna would be defensive of that sort of topic. "By the time she was old enough to remember things I told her everything. I was ready for her to resent me, to run away, to do anything and I would try to convince her to stay with me, but that never happened. In fact she still wanted to stay with me even after I said all that. I guess she knew that even though I didn't give birth to her that it doesn't make me any less her mother."

"That is good to know." Maven said. "Where is Hilda by the way?"

"Oh she's at school right now, she won't be getting for another," Johanna looked at a nearby clock and gasped. "OH MY GOSH SHE GOT OUT OF SCHOOL 15 MINUTES AGO!" She reached her hand out for Alfur. "Come one Alfur it's time to go." Alfur jumped onto Johanna's hand and climbed up to her shoulder. "With luck maybe she's spending time with her friends so I might have some time." Maven stood up and moved to the entrance of the secret room to open it. "Thanks for the time Maven."

"Anytime, but, and I hate to bother even more but, why exactly did you show up here anyway?"

Johanna groaned softly at that. After all this time she still didn't explain the meaning of the visit. "I'm sorry Maven but I'm going to have to tell you later." Johanna then started blushing. "That is if you would like to talk later."

Maven started blushing too. "I would love to. Maybe later tonight at the cafe, they serve exactly tea there." Maven looked at her with hopeful eyes.

Johanna nodded at that. "I would love to do that, maybe then we could catch up on all that has been going on."

"Umm... Miss Johanna." Alfur said making Johanna look at him. "Hilda?"

"Oh yes, right." Johanna walked past Maven and up the stairs. She turned back around and said to Maven. "I'll be seeing you later then."

"Likewise." Maven said to Johanna as she walked away. After Johanna left and knowing that there was no one else around Maven started squealing in joy for she might still have a chance to be with Johanna.

Meanwhile back at Johanna's apartment Johanna and Alfur finally made after running the entire way back. Slowly catching her breathe Johanna tried calling out to Hilda. "Hilda, I'm back." She waited for a response but didn't find one. "Hilda?" Still nothing. "Guess she's with her friends right now."

"Well that should good." Alfur said jumping off of Johanna's shoulder and on the floor. "Because now you have some time to get ready for your date."

Johanna blushed at that and said, "I'm just having tea with an old friend of mine." She looked away from Alfur now and continued. "Besides, I'm not even sure if she still wants to be with me."

"Well you can only hope right?" Aflur said making Johanna smile and nod. "Well I'm off to write my report now, they believe all this information I have for them."

"Alfur," Alfur turned around as Johanna called to him. "If you are going to write a report could you please not mention Maven please. I know now that elves and witches get along but Maven is still concerned about people finding out about that."

"Don't worry Miss Johanna, even though it would've made an excellent report," Alfur looked sad at that. "I promise I won't tell anyone. Elves honor."

Johanna giggled at that. "Thanks Alfur." Johanna then moved to room and Alfur moved to Hilda's room for that was where his room also was.

As Alfur crawled under the door space to get into Hilda's room he noticed Twig sleeping on Hilda's bed. However, as Alfur made it into Hilda's room Twig woke up, jumped off the bed, and moved towards Alfur. "Hello boy, did you have a nice nap?" Alfur asked as he climbed onto Twig's head and scratched behind his hears making Twig oh so happy. "You wouldn't believe the what happened today. I found out about Miss Johanna's past and her friend." He then stopped scratching making Twig sad that it stopped and looked at the door expecting Johanna to appear. "I know she said not to say anything to anyone but I think you could be trusted."

Aflur jumped down from Twig and explained the story, Twig surprisingly understanding the story as it went on. As the story died down Alfur began to think about the story he was told.

"You know something Twig, I can't help but find something off about all of that." Alfur said to Twig trying to understand what he was thinking. "Every witch should know that there is a waiting period for a magic construct to. However long that is all depends on the material they use and how powerful the spell is. Well then again she had other things to worry about so I'm sure it was just a mistake." The thought however, made Alfur think of something else. "But wait a minute, the material they used was their hair and blood." Alfur then thought of something else. "Now that I think about that Miss Johanna said she found Hilda in the forest with no one around. So then... that would... mean..."

Alfur gasped as realization dawned on him. He looked over at a picture of Hilda on her nightstand his mouth wide opened and gasping much louder. "I NEED TO CONFIRM THIS!!!" Alfur ran leaving a confused Twig behind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well that's surprising.

**Author's Note:**

> Before you ask I looked it up and yes you can burn feathers into ash and that they also smell bad if you too burn them. Also the name Ahvus as well as the names for the Birds of Paradise and Lavenders I found using the Legacy Translator for the game Skyrim. Translating all English words into Dragon Tongue and vice versa.
> 
> I thought about it and sorry if you wanted this to be a one-shot story but I figured it was getting to long so I should make this into a two-parter. But don't worry the next will the next thing a work on before anything else so anyone reading I hope you enjoy it.


End file.
